Unwanted Gifts
by orpheneritus
Summary: Christmas fluff... with real fur. Ato Ji Complete


On the twenty fifth of December he woke up with a heavy weight across his chest, which he was not accustomed to at anytime of the year, but certainly not on Christmas morning.

Atobe cracked open an eye, only to have his gaze returned. 'Ah, Atobe-san,' Jirou sighed. 'I thought you might never wake up and I was getting so tired waiting.'

To punctuate his tiredness Jirou yawned and stretched, shifting his body alongside Atobe's, which gave him a sudden and uncomfortable awareness of his morning arousal. He attempted to shift his body out from underneath Jirou. 'How did you get inside?' he asked.

Jirou wiggled in closer. 'Maid let me in.'

Atobe smiled a little and softly stroked Jirou's hair, surprised when he pushed into his hand. 'Why did you come?'

'Oh,' his question raised a response in the boy. Jirou shifted about on the bed and sat up. 'To bring you your Christmas present, of course.' Jirou looked about Atobe's room with a frown. 'Now where did it go?'

'You didn't need to get anything for me… I didn't get anything for the tennis team.'

'Oh, I didn't either, just something for you,' he smiled crawling off the bed in search of his elusive Christmas gift.

'Oh.' Jirou hadn't bought a gift for anyone else, just for him. The feeling was a little strange… he felt a little curious, maybe even excited.

'Ah, found you,' Jirou exclaimed as he wiggled down on his belly to reach under the bed.

The resulting noise was most unmistakably the sound of a kitten cry. And sure enough when Jirou sat up he held a small striped kitten with black paws.

Atobe struggled to conceal his look of horror. If his face exposed any expression beyond surprise, Jirou didn't comment on it, but deposited the kitten in his lap with a wide happy smile, crawling back up onto the bed.

The kitten dug his claws into the blanket as they regarded each other. If Jirou was fooled, the kitten most certainly was not and took an instant dislike for Atobe. In all his life had never had a creature disregard him so completely, and he was somewhat insulted by its bad attitude.

'Isn't he adorable,' Jirou gushed leaning halfway into his lap to stroke the little beast.

'Adorable,' Atobe repeated absently, resisting the urge to hastily deposit the creature onto the floor by the means of a solid shove.

'I named him Kage, I hope you don't mind.' Jirou rolled onto his back, head blissfully resting in his lap, the kitten settling down on Jirou's chest. 'If you want to rename him I won't mind.'

'Of course not, Kage's perfect.' Jirou smiled at him and shifted further into his lap.

It wasn't to be borne, if he didn't say something to Jirou about the cat, he was going to be landed with the little beast until he could make up a reasonable excuse for its disappearance. It wasn't a present that he could just deposit in the garage until further notice… Except that if the kitten did go missing Jirou would be upset, and then he would have the boy on his hands, in a worse way than he did now.

'Ah, Jirou?'

'Yes, Atobe?'

'I think he's wonderful, I really do…' Atobe reached out towards the kitten that tried to scratch him. '… but my parents are allergic to cats.'

Jirou snickered a little. 'I know Atobe, but they're hardly ever here… and I didn't think you'd mind if your parents were allergic.' He winked knowingly and Atobe had a sudden and new appreciation for Jirou's deviousness.

Thought of sending the kitten to sleep in his parent's bed flitted through his head. Juvenile, regrettably, but undeniably a satisfactory revenge.

'Still, I don't really need a pet…'

Jirou frowned, looking a little upset at his continued protest. His stomach sank as the boy blinked and seemed to struggle with his thoughts for a moment. 'Nobody needs a pet, Atobe. This is why you should have one. He'll sit with you and sleep on your lap and you can tell him anything…'

Atobe regarded the boy. 'But I do all those things with you, Jirou. You're my cat,' he pointed out.

The boy blushed slightly. 'But I don't live with you, and I worry that you get lonely.'

They sat quietly on the bed for a while. Atobe resting against the headboard, Jirou resting in his lap and the kitten purring on Jirou's chest. 'Maybe,' Jirou sighed. 'Maybe, you could keep Kage for when I'm not around.'

Atobe gently carded his hands through Jirou's hair. 'Only until you come to live with me then,' he whispered.

Jirou smiled and pressed his face against his stomach with a deep sigh. 'Don't you like anything about Christmas?'

'Maybe, there is one thing I like…'

'What is it?' Jirou asked leaning closer, his face flushed and sweet.

'Mistletoe,' he replied. 'So I might have an excuse to kiss you softly.' He lent over the boy, his hand resting gently on Jirou's arm, stroking the line of his muscle. 'Do I need an excuse, Jirou?'

He didn't wait for a full reply, just the slight shake of the boy's head was enough for him to press his cold lonely self against the warmth of Jirou. And if he squished the kitten a little in the process… he felt no guilt about the casualty.

To say that Atobe ever got along with Kage would be an overstatement, but they established, what he referred to, as a mutual respect pact. Acknowledging that in their own way they were both irrefutable snobs.

They found unexpected common ground. Kage hated his parents on sight and enjoyed roast beef with gravy for dinner. And they agreed on one essential factor.

There was no one lovelier to sleep with than Jirou… although on occasion they fought over resting rights on his lap.


End file.
